12.10.2026

KHPG News Digest: Militarization of Preschool Children, Persecution of Families in Occupied Territories, and a Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine During Wartime

A roundup of news from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG), one of the oldest human rights organizations in Ukraine. Since 2014, KHPG has been documenting war crimes in eastern Ukraine, and since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it has been documenting events that show signs of crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes) across all regions of Ukraine. KHPG is one of the founders of the T4P (Tribunal for Putin) initiative, which brings together more than two dozen organizations with the aim of holding Russia accountable for the crimes committed.

Russian Education as a Tool for Militarization

In occupied Crimea, discussions are underway about the operation of cadet and “Cossack” classes for schoolchildren, the expansion of the “Little Cadets and Cossacks” project for preschoolers, the role of military training camps, and cooperation between Crimean schools and the Russian occupation security agencies. Thirteen kindergartens, with groups of children aged five to seven, are participating in the propaganda project “Little Cadets and Cossacks.”

In the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk Oblast, Russian paratroopers have organized an event where they demonstrated military equipment to minors. In occupied Skadovsk, cadets at School No. 1 were provided with uniforms for classes operating under the patronage of Rosgvardiya (the Russian National Guard). In effect, schoolchildren will be wearing uniforms resembling those of Russian security forces.

“The problem is not only that military culture is being imposed on children. The use of uniforms closely resembling those worn by Russian security forces creates a dangerous situation under conditions of occupation and hostilities: it becomes significantly more difficult to distinguish civilian children from members of Russian security forces,” the Ukrainian National Resistance Center notes.

In an overview article, KHPG examines the ongoing militarization and indoctrination of Ukrainian children by the occupying power.

A Family Affair: Russia Persecutes Entire Families in Occupied Territories

Russian authorities widely employ the practice of detaining entire families in occupied territories. This makes it easier for Russian security services to exert pressure on those who oppose the regime. When charges are based on self-incriminating statements, detainees can be forced to sign virtually any testimony if their mother, son, or daughter is being held in a neighboring cell.

KHPG recounts the persecution of seven families: Valentyn Maliar and his sister Tetiana Behei (Maliar), together with their children Anatolii Rossikhin and Olha Behei; married couple Serhii Kozlov and Yevheniia Samoilova; Viktoriia Strilets and her daughter Oleksandra Strilets; Oleksii Demianenko and his daughter Anzhelika Demianenko; Anna Murdidi, her son Artem Murdidi and his wife Anna Voshkoder; married couple Oleh Platonov and Nataliia Poliukh; and Volodymyr Perzhynskyi and his son Mark Perzhynskyi.

Detention Extended for Women Charged in the “First Female Hizb ut-Tahrir Case”

Four Crimean Tatar women arrested a year ago, on October 15, 2025—Esma Nimetullaeva, Nasibe Saidova, Elviza Alieva, and Fevzie Osmanova—have had their pre-trial detention extended. It was previously reported that FSB officers had completed the “preliminary investigation” into the case of the Crimean detainees. According to sources, in addition to Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code (concerning involvement in the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir), the Crimean Tatar women are charged with preparing to seize power by force under Article 278 of the Russian Criminal Code.

Esma Nimetullaeva, who lived in Bakhchysarai, worked as a pastry chef and was raising five underage daughters. Her husband, Crimea Solidarity activist Remzi Nimetullaev, was first detained in November 2021 in Sevastopol, when he came to meet a lawyer outside a detention center following the lawyer’s release from administrative detention. Remzi Nimetullaev was detained for a second time in August 2023, following a wave of mass searches. This time, he and five other Crimea Solidarity activists were accused of organizing the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Elviza Alieva worked as a cashier at a bakery in Simferopol. She was also a fourth-year Management student at the so-called Crimean Federal University.

Nasibe Saidova, the daughter of a well-known imam in Crimea, was in her final year of college, studying education, and worked with a nursery group at a kindergarten.

Fevzie Osmanova worked in the family business, a shop.

According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, as of March 2026, at least 52 women were known to have been subjected to political persecution by the Russian authorities and were being held in pre-trial detention centers or penal colonies.

More details are available in the KHPG article.

Analytical report within the framework of the KHPG project ‘Strengthening Public Oversight and Accountability of State Institutions in Ukraine’, 2025–2026

KHPG has published three sections of a comprehensive study on the human rights situation in Ukraine in 2025–2026, covering trends under wartime conditions, challenges in combating corruption, and the protection of the rights of vulnerable groups. The study traces developments in human rights protection in Ukraine from the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, examines changes following the full-scale invasion in February 2022, and identifies trends in 2025–2026.

Key issues addressed in the report:

  • The report examines the narrowing of the space for civil and political freedoms under the pretext of martial law, the absence of systematic dialogue between the authorities and civil society, pressure on the opposition and attempts to subordinate the judiciary.
  • It analyses the unconstitutional application of National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) sanctions against Ukrainian citizens and cases of unlawful deprivation of citizenship without transparent procedures or judicial oversight.
  • In the sphere of freedom of speech, the report records the growing state monopolisation of the information space through the retention of the ‘United News Telethon’, the removal of patriotic opposition TV channels (Espreso, Priamyi, Channel 5) from digital broadcasting, and pressure by law enforcement and security agencies (the SBU and the SBI) on investigative journalists and bloggers (the cases of Bihus.Info, Yu. Butusov, B. Bereza and Slidstvo.Info). At the same time, it emphasises that society has retained its capacity for peaceful resistance (the ‘cardboard protests’ of 2025–2026).

The third section of the report, “Human Rights in Ukraine 2025 and the First Half of 2026. Rights of Vulnerable Groups”, analyzes the situation of vulnerable groups in Ukraine during the war in 2025–2026, including sex workers, people who use drugs, women living with HIV, and LGBTIQ+ people. It highlights systemic discrimination, barriers to healthcare, legal challenges and recommendations.

Monitoring networks continue to document hate speech, discrimination, harassment, and intolerance-motivated offences against LGBTIQ+ people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC).

At the same time, significant progress has been made in recognizing the situation and needs of LGBTIQ+ people as a social group in legislation and public policy. The number of legal and regulatory acts explicitly prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and/or gender identity has been steadily increasing.

As of August 2026, Ukraine had adopted or ratified at least 109 legal and regulatory acts and related documents addressing sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), LGBTIQ+ issues, or registered partnerships in the context of legal protection. The number of court cases concerning LGBTIQ+ issues in which national courts deliver favorable rulings is also increasing.

KHPG Presents Updated Ukrainian Portal “Human Rights in Prison”

On October 6, 2026, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, together with the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, presented a two-year project aimed at developing the National Preventive Mechanism, strengthening independent monitoring of places of detention, and establishing a network of local civil society organizations and monitoring groups across Ukraine.

One of the project’s key objectives is to translate monitoring findings into practical and systemic changes through a sequence of steps: monitoring visits, documentation of violations, legal assessment, reports and recommendations, response measures, follow-up on implementation, and systemic change.

Andrii Didenko, an expert with the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, presented the updated Ukrainian prison website “Human Rights in Prison”:

“We want to combine many years of human rights experience with modern monitoring so that this information ultimately serves to protect individual people.”

The portal brings together monitoring reports, information about penitentiary institutions, statistics, legislation, case law, document templates, and practical answers to questions about the rights of people deprived of their liberty.

One of the key features of the updated portal is an interactive map of Ukraine’s penitentiary institutions, showing the geographical scope of independent monitoring, the findings of monitoring visits, and the network of civil society organizations and monitoring groups operating in different regions.

The portal may be useful to detainees and convicted prisoners, their relatives, lawyers, human rights defenders, journalists, researchers, and anyone working on penitentiary system issues.

Military Chaplain Hennadii Rokhmaniiko: “Those Who Had Been on the Front Line Confessed Before the Lord” — the “Voices of War” Video Project

Archpriest Hennadii Rokhmaniiko is a priest at the Church of St. John the Theologian in Kharkiv and a chaplain at the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Northern Region. In the interview, he answers KHPG’s questions about what a pastor discusses with wounded soldiers, whether a chaplain may take up arms, and whether a Christian violates the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” by killing an enemy.

The publication is created in the framework of the project “Documenting and analysing international crimes committed by the Russia’s armed forces after 24.02.2022, helping victims of these crimes and informing on crimes” implemented by Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Center for Civil Liberties and ADC Memorial Brussels, funded by the European Union.

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the contracting authority can be held responsible for them.

 

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